Introduction
The Internet has been expanded to serve millions of users since 1994 and the world population of internet user is increased up to 54.4% which is 45,176 million people in 22 years. (Internetworldstats.com, 2018) The evolution of the internet had brought a huge impact for human in the way of communication by creating a powerful platform which is a medium for people to communicate with each other. According to Internetworldstats.com (2018), the growth of the internet has made Marshall McLuhan’s Global Village became a reality. Marshall McLuhan says, “Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned.” (livinginternet.com, cited in Understanding Media, 1964) In the past, people used letters as a medium to deliver the messages to each other through pigeon while before the internet, letters are sending through postman. Neither both of the methods take days to receive, so people prefer face to face interaction in between neighborhood however for the distant relatives, people’s behavior seems more cherish to the chances of expressing their feelings and thoughts through letters to their relative even pen pals in the letters. World's connection seems to be stronger due to the boundaries of communication is solved since the establishment of the internet, yet is the mediated messages conveyed effectively and authentically in this mobile and digital world? Do people really feel connected to each other without gap when they are contacting their friends and family by using the mediated communication system rather than face to face interaction? When things reached to an extreme, they will move into the opposite direction, which means that the convenience that provided had resulted in people get indulged on it and slaves of technology by using electronic devices in public even though their friends and family is right in front of them, it slowly lead people into a serious stage of social alienation and isolation. People tend to be neglected on the importance of face to face interaction in bonding between the intimate personal communication. This essay will indicate that in-person communication is preferable to online contact because context and visibility help people connect better.
The importance of context and atmosphere
According to longdistancerelationshipstatistics.com (2018), 40 % of all long-distance relationships end with a break up even though they made a call or contact each other at least once every three days through the mobile and online communication system. One of the reasons that caused long distance relationship comes to the end is people are not able to feel the warmth of their companion from the laptop screen even they can see each other from the screen. (David, M. 2013) Based on these phenomena, it can be inferred that mediated communications are not able to achieve the best communication result, it can’t fully eliminate people’s loneliness due to the lack of authenticity in physical context and atmosphere. Physical context is the actual setting which includes physical location, the time of day, the noise level, the weather, and the psychological atmosphere. (Muscato, n.d.) “The medium is the message”, a theory issuance by Marshall McLuhan state that the importance of the approach that we send and receive information. (Eudaimonia, 2016) Besides, according to McLuhan (2016) states that Marshall McLuhan preferred ‘milieu’ or ‘environment’ instead of technology, had mentioned about the significance of physical context in developing a good quality of communication. “Good conversation requires a slow, relaxed place and a pressure-free atmosphere free of distractions.” (Deutschendorf, 2014) Instant responses can be received by sender without confusing which has implemented the theories of transmission model by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver in 1949 as well as the feedback loop. The process is able to be done more effectively and instantaneously through face to face interaction by accomplished the conditions of physical context in order to develop a good quality of communication.
The need to see real expression and body language
Is emojis did a good job in improving the quality of communicating text message? In this digital era, emojis are widely used as a representative of facial expressions in a text message. Facial expression and body language are the most important element in developing a good quality of communication. It provides the instant answer from the receiver subconsciously to the speaker so speaker gets the real reaction instantly and can predict the following flow of speech in order to use it as a powerful tool to convince listener. (thebusinesscommunication.com, 2015) Animoji, the animated emoji released followed by iPhone X in 2018 which can be suggested that it is the advanced emojis use to enhance the quality of message conveyed, shown that emojis is being emphasized in order to develop a good quality of communication. However, are them able to express and conveys messages as well as face to face interaction? According to Holland (2017), emojis which is a kind of semiotics are slang which means it is anything to anyone depends on the individual’s culture, it may cause some misunderstandings between sender and the receiver. The term “semiotics” which is the study of sign and sign-using behavior by several philosophers. Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure defined semiotics as “the life of sign within society” while Charles Sanders Peirce from American determined it as “something which stands to somebody for something”. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.) For instance, thumbs up seem common means everything is in a good condition but in scuba diving, it means to go up to the surface yet it means someone wants to hitch a ride when someone thumbs up by the roadside. (SignSalad, n.d.) Sometimes, emojis works in conveying the different message in different culture also. By sending a message, “hands up” symbol is a positive sign in American but for Chinese, it means “stay away from me”. Also, emojis can be misinterpreted, it is no consensus among the emotions and emojis which is intended to represent. (Holland, 2017) So, it comes to the authenticity of a communication, people may not experience the real feelings of conversation itself compared to direct in-person interaction.
Conclusion
In conclusion, researches are agreed as the thesis state above, in person communication is preferable to online contact because context and visibility help in creating the trustworthy between people and makes people connect better in order to maintain a good relationship. By staying in the same context and atmosphere create a same mentality for the person and give a sense of the authenticity feelings to them. Visual communication works in observing facial expression and body language used to determine the flow of conversation. Face to face interaction is fundamental to developing a good quality of communication.